WWE 205 Live Recap - A No-DQ Match as Explosive as Fireworks

It's time for another episode of 205 Live on the WWE Network! Cedric Alexander has proved that he belongs as champion and his era continues, and he feels that Hideo Itami could be the next challenger. Does Itami have the champ's respect? Tonight, Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy look to finally finish their feud in a No Disqualification Match. Who will emerge victorious? Tune in for all the details. Hit F5 to refresh the live recap!

The show opens with 205 Live GM Drake Maverick making a match for next week - Cedric Alexander vs. Hideo Itami for the Cruiserweight Championship! Also, both Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy have won one match each, and tonght their rubber match will be a No DQ Match. Finally, Maverick mentions TJP and says his complaints have not fallen on deaf ears as tonight he will have a marquee match against an opponent of the GM's choosing. Cue the opening!

Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson welcome us to the show and they praise the championship match made for next week. TJP is the first man to come out to the ring. TJP: "So, tonight the 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick has scheduled me for a match against an opponent of his choosing. Well Drake, you're the GM, congratulations that's exacty how it works. In fact, all of my opponents have been ones that you've chosen. But tonight, Drake has said he's finally gonna give me what I want. But as I stand here I notice three very obvious things - 1, this is clearly not the main event; 2, this is clearly not for the Cruiserweight Title; and 3, it's the fact that I'm actually standing here in the middle of west flippin' nowhere in Yamaha, Nebraska! Which, I might add, is a dump of a town. Don't boo me, you know this place is terrible. Nebraska is where fun and excitement come to die. But be that as it may, I'm out here, I''m standing here, I'll take the bait. I'll give my incompetent General Manager another chance. Maybe he's finally gonna give me what I want. Maybe he's finally found an opponent that's worthy of being in the ring with me, the best technical wrestler in the game, the CruiserGreat. So, now that it's tap-out time, let's see who I'm gonna tap out this week. Who's it gonna be?"

* TJP vs. Noam Dar

Noam Dar is back! TJP gets in his face early on, but Dar takes him down with a European uppercut and soccer kicks him in the legs. Dar hits the running enziguiri kick already, AND IT'S ALL OVER! WINNER: NOAM DAR.

Dar is coming back from an injury, and he came back strong! Even Drake Maverick is impressed.

We get clips from four months ago where Ali pinned Murphy during the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament before WrestleMania. Fast forward two months later, and Murphy defeated Ali. Murphy is backstage getting ready and calls himself the juggernaut of the cruiserweight division. Murphy: "Tonight, no disqualifications. That means there's no rules to stop me from putting Mustafa Ali in a hospital bed where he belongs once and for all. Once I'm done with him, whether it's Cedric or Hideo holding that Cruiserweight Championship, I'll be waiting." He continues to get prepared while we get a commercial for WWE Extreme Rules.

TJP is walking backstage clearly frustrated, Dasha Fuentes tries to interview him, but he walks right past her and out the door.

* Akira Tozawa vs. local talent

This jobber's name is Jaysin Strife. Lio Rush randomly makes his grand entrance onto the stage before the bell dings and swaggers to the ring.

The match begins, Tozawa with a jumping hurricanrana, chop, chop, fake-out, jab, mudhole stomps in a corner, rolls through a sunset flip, running kick to the chest, jumping back senton splash and looks over at Lio Rush. Strife goes on offense from the slight distraction hitting a jumping knee and forearm smash in a corner, but then misses a springboard moonsault. Tozawa hits the shining wizard, back kick, misses a roundhouse, slides under him, connects with the spin kick, climbs the turnbuckles, looks over at Rush, hits the diving senton from the top rope and gets the win. WINNER: AKIRA TOZAWA.

Lio Rush looks impressed as he smiles at Tozawa, then stands atop the announce table to praise him. Lio Rush: "Wow! That was absolutely incredible. Lio Rush is a fan! Tozawa, you're so good, man. You're extremely good. I get it, I can see why you're a former Cruiserweight Champion. But I'm standing here and I'm just asking myself, 'What is it that you've really done since then?' Hmm, I don't know man. It looks like you've just been walking around here waiting for opportunities. It's sad, it's embarrassing. You should be ashamed. See there's a difference between yourself and Lio Rush. That difference is that I don't wait for anything, I'm just too quick. To be honest I'm just too good to wait. Listen Tozawa, I call my own shots. So how about when you finish waiting for opportunities you step in the ring with the 23-year-old piece of gold, with the man of the hour, and feel the Rush?" Tozawa smiles and nods.

Next we see Mustafa Ali in the locker room calling Murphy big, strong, a bad dude and dangerous. He is aware that Murphy is more dangerous now that this match has no DQ's. Ali: "While others will run from danger, I'm the guy that runs directly into it. So yeah tonight the rules might get bent, they might get stretched, they're gonna get broken. But that's OK, cause tonight I prove to the world that that juggernaut is just a human after all." That match is NEXT!

We get a selfie video from the champ Alexander talking about Itami. He says it's not about Itami getting what he thinks he deserves; it's about Alexander building his own legacy. That Cruiserweight Championship match is NEXT WEEK!

* No Disqualification Match: Mustafa Ali vs. Buddy Murphy

It's 10:23 PM ET and Mustafa Ali comes out first. Buddy Murphy makes his way out after, but Ali attacks Murphy with a dropkick as soon as he jumps on the apron, then hits a flip dive to the floor! The bell hasn't even rung yet so this match hasn't officially started yet. Ali throws him into the barricade, then into the ring.

Finally this match is underway, Ali picks his leg, Murphy kicks him off and rolls back out to the floor, Ali goes after him but Murphy tosses him over the announce table and into the commentators' chairs! Murphy hits a forearm and slams his head on the announce table. Both men are trading hard-hitting forearms and chops at ringside. Murphy tries to slam Ali's head onto the steel steps, but Ali blocks it and reverses his fortunes. Ali throws him into the barricade, clotheslines him over it into the crowd, then jumps off the top of the barricade for a high crossbody! Murphy gets the upper hand as he fights back putting the boots to Ali, brings him back to the barricade, Ali tosses him up and over, punches him, walks along the top of the barricade, but Murphy grabs him and tosses him onto the steel ramp with a loud SPLAT! Murphy goes for a suplex, Ali blocks it and reverses, Murphy blocks it and delivers the suplex back onto the ramp with another SPLAT.

Back in the ring Murphy gets a 2-count, then puts him in a rear chinlock with a knee to the back. Ali gets to his feet, grabs the ropes, but there's no rope break in a No DQ Match, so Murphy keeps the hold on and brings him back down in the middle of the ring. Ali breaks free with a jawbreaker, but Murphy fires back with a kick to the back, sends him into a corner with a hard Irish whip, and taunts him saying "I could do this all day." He stomps Ali down in a corner, another hard Irish whip and gives him a high back body drop off the rebound, then covers for a 2-count. Murphy forearms him in the back, Irish whip to a corner, another HIGH back body drop, saunters around the ring, makes the cover, gets only 2, then punches and chops Ali in a corner. Ali kicks him, hits a back elbow, puts his boots up, double-leg takedown, catapult into the turnbuckles/ringpost, pop-up dropkick connects, Irish whip reversed, side-steps sliding onto the apron, kicks him in the head, slingshot rolling facebuster countered, traps him in the ropes and hits the X-Factor for a near-fall!

Murphy waits until he gets closer to pull him out the ring, sends him into the announce table, slams his head off the steel steps, and both men are down on the ground. Murphy checks under the ring, finds nothing, so instead takes apart the ring steps to put the bottom half in the ring. Ali fights back with punches, looks at the abandoned announce table, clears it off, goes back to the ring, but Murphy baseball slides the steps into Ali followed by a flip dive from off the steps onto Ali below! Murphy covers for 2, stomps on him, stands the steps up and props it up in a corner, then hiptosses Ali into the steps! Murphy picks up Ali, talks trash in his face, does another hiptoss into the steps, covers for 2, picks up Ali again, but Ali counters with a hurricanrana sending him into the steps! Ali drags him into position, starts to make the climb, Murphy gets up, pulls him by the hair to trap him, superkicks him through open legs, pulls him off the turnbuckles for a powerbomb, then dead-lifts him back up to plant him with a spinning sit-out powerbomb for 1-2-KICKOUT!

Murphy sits up and can't believe he kicked out. The crowd starts chanting "We want tables!" Savages. Murphy ignores them, drags the steps away from the corner a little bit, slams Ali's head on the steps, sets him up, goes up top, but Ali cuts him off and crotches him. Ali shoves the steps into Murphy as the crowd chants "We want tables!" and "No more stairs!" However, Ali, stands the stairs straight up, stands on top of it, pulls Murphy up on the top turnbuckle, takes a step up on the very top of the stairs, and DELIVERS A HUGE SUPERPLEX!! The crowd may have chanted for no more stairs, but that drew a "Holy shit" chant followed by "This is awesome!"

Murphy crawls over to Murphy to make the cover, but Murphy just rolls away and out the ring. Ali is in pursuit, but Murphy pops him up and onto the announce table, which prompts another "We want tables" chant, Murphy stands atop the barricade behind the table, but Ali grabs him and crotches him there. Murphy shoves him away, but Ali comes back hopping onto the table, onto the barricade, and hits the SPANISH FLY FROM THE TOP OF THE BARRICADE THROUGH THE ANNOUNCE TABLE!!!! Holy shit - the table DIDN'T EVEN BREAK!!!

Both men are down writhing around in pain on the floor, the referee checks on both of them, and the commentators are incredulous at the action at ringside. Ali throws Murphy back into the ring, slides back in, Murphy hits a running knee strike and Ali's arms get caught in the ropes. Murphy sees this situation and licks his lips in antipicatioin of impending doom to his opponent, which consists of THREE running knee strikes to the unprotected head. Ali looks up at him with a look of grit and determination etched on his face, Murphy sets him free, drags him to the center, and hits a NASTY looking and sounding knee strike to the face curling Ali in a heap! Murphy makes the cover for 1-2-NO!! Murphy can't believe that did not get the W for him. Murphy grabs the steps again, lets it drop, but Ali just barely rolls out of the way, so he charges at him jumping off the steps but Ali sticks a boot up in his face. ALI HITS A RUNNING TILT-A-WHIRL DDT FROM OFF THE STEPS, COVERS, 1-2-3!!! WINNER: MUSTAFA ALI!

What a match! What a battle!! What a finish!!! Ali stands atop the steps in victory. Murphy looks on at him from the floor with a look of anguish from the loss. Next week, Cedric Alexander will defend his Cruiserweight Championship and his legacy against Hideo Itami who is still looking for respect and the championship. That's all for this week's 205 Live!